Spring Break in the 49024

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Spring Break is almost upon us. The first week of April every year is full of the same thing: people leaving with friends or family to explore different places of the world for a week, posting all kinds of pictures on all kinds of social media and talking about the hot weather, only to return with amazing memories and tanned skin. Sounds great, right? To get a break from school and go somewhere sunny with the ocean and palm trees. It sounds great alright, for someone else.

I won’t lie, I wish I knew what that spring break vacation dream was like. In my time of schooling up until now, I’ve gone through twelve spring breaks, all of which I’ve spent in crusty, dusty Portage, Michigan, inundated by social media posts from my globe-trotting friends. I won’t even get to relax over the break, I will likely see how many extra hours I can pick up at work. That’s the reality of not having enough money, not just to travel, but in general. Bills need to be paid and works needs to be done to continue to have financial stability regardless of the week of the year that it is. The grind never stops when you’re poor.

You wouldn’t believe how many times in one day alone I get told how pale I am, and how it almost seems unnatural to be so colorless. Gee, thanks! As if I didn’t know I could basically be albino. Sorry, I don’t catch the sun rays until it becomes summer here, because ya know, too poor to travel, and definitely not wasting money on indoor tanning. At least my freckles are natural, I don’t have to tan for those.

I probably sound crazy for my intense hatred for this one week of freedom, travelling or not. Although, the thing is, I only have one close friend staying here. Everyone that I can stand to hangout with will be leaving, so it’s not like I have anything fun to do here anyway. Some people staying here are okay with it because they have friends that are staying that they can see. Sophomore Lauren Miller-Grigg says, “I’m used to it and I like being able to sleep in my own bed during spring break. I’ll be making bank and I can just hangout with my other friends.”

Moral of the story, it irks my soul when people constantly brag about what they get to do and who they get to do it with. I’ve spent my whole life in this state, I can’t say I’ve travelled, I can’t even say I have the money to travel. It’s fine and I’m fine, but maybe we can all just take a minute and think about how what we say or do impacts others. Brace yourselves, traveling Huskies: I will be just as pale when you get back as before you left, and I’d appreciate not hearing about it.